Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding marketing and wedding PR firm OFD Consulting. She is the exclusive Wedding PR Education Expert for WeddingWire and is a highly sought after speaker in the wedding industry. To learn how OFD Consulting can assist you with your wedding marketing and wedding PR, please contact us today.
Sometimes it’s easy to feel like you’re stuck in a proverbial wedding rut. The realization tends to hit once you’ve put the finishing touches on what appears to be your five thousandth wedding featuring mason jars.
Inspiration shoots are a great way to 
combat this, giving you a chance to flex your creative muscle during down time while adding depth to your design portfolio. Given the tremendous amount of work that goes into an inspiration shoot, it’s common to want to submit yours to a potential blog or magazine for further exposure. The issue? It can often be as challenging as convincing that couple they need to off the mason jar addiction!
Regardless of your service category, setting up an inspiration shoot to showcase your business, share your personality and stay creative is a great way to gain positive business exposure and remind you why you love the industry! Consider working with other Pros if relevant to your service to work together to create a special shoot that will generate some positive PR!
Here are some tips to get started:
Do your research. Take the time prior to the shoot to do your due diligence. Comb a slew of wedding media outlets to first see if they even accept inspiration shoots. From there, identify the type of content that tends to get picked up by your favorite Editors and then dig deeper to find a theme that is both fresh and exciting. In other words? Lay off the chevron and aim for something a bit more novel.
Set your expectations accordingly. If you’ve already completed your research, then your expectations should already be in check as you proceed with the big shoot. As you begin to assemble your inspiration shoot team, it’s important to share your intentions for submitting while also making it clear that you cannot guarantee a press pickup. At the end of the day, there are a million and one variables that can affect the outcome and if a team member comes into the shoot expecting a several page magazine feature, they may be in for a major disappointment if it doesn’t come to fruition.
Keep the lines of communication open with your team. Each member of the inspiration shoot will more than likely be donating their time gratis so if you have intentions of submitting, do so in a swift manner so that the vendors can be free to use the images for their portfolio in a timely manner. Should the shoot be picked up (hurrah!), then it’s in your best interest to inform the team quickly. Not only will they enjoy seeing the rewards of their hard work, they can be instrumental in promoting the feature.
And finally, remind yourself that a potential press mention is only one of the many benefits of a successful inspiration shoot. The opportunity to collaborate with new talent, as well as to add fresh inspiration to your portfolio can be equally rewarding.
So toss aside those mason jars, and consider making a date with some of your favorite wedding Pros for an inspiration shoot that will knock your client’s socks off!
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